Nature agingJul 1, 2026

Treating blood cell problems caused by short telomeres and aging by blocking damage signals at chromosome ends

Longevity & Aging Weekly Brief ↗PubMed ↗DOI ↗OA ↗

Updated Jul 2, 2026

Abstract

Targeting telomeric noncoding RNAs with telomeric antisense oligonucleotides (tASO) improves hematopoietic function in telomerase-deficient mice.

Telomeres shorten and accumulate damage with aging, contributing to cellular senescence and hematopoietic dysfunction.
Telomeric noncoding RNAs are synthesized in response to telomere dysfunction and are involved in the activation of the telomeric DNA damage response (tDDR).
In telomerase-deficient mice, suppressing tDDR with tASO reduces senescence and inflammation in hematopoietic organs.
Targeting tDDR alleviates hematopoietic dysfunction and enhances the fitness and repopulating potential of hematopoietic stem cells.
Similar improvements were observed in aged wild-type mice and in human hematopoietic stem cells from aged donors after tASO treatment.

Simplified

Telomeres progressively shorten and accumulate damage with aging, and this contributes to cellular senescence and hematopoietic dysfunction. We previously showed that telomere dysfunction induces synthesis of telomeric noncoding RNAs required for activation of the telomeric DNA damage response (tDDR), a driver of senescence and inflammation. However, whether the tDDR causally impairs hematopoiesis remained unclear. Here we show in telomerase-deficient Terc^-/- mice, which recapitulate telomere-driven hematopoietic dysfunction and aging, that targeting telomeric noncoding RNAs with telomeric antisense oligonucleotides (tASO) suppresses tDDR in hematopoietic organs, reduces senescence and inflammation, alleviates hematopoietic dysfunction, and enhances hematopoietic stem cell fitness and repopulating potential in vivo. Similar observations were recapitulated in aged wild-type mice, and ex vivo treatment with tASO improved the function of human hematopoietic stem cells from aged donors. Taken together, our results identify tDDR as a pathogenic driver of hematopoietic decline and support tASO-mediated tDDR inhibition as a potential therapeutic strategy for telomere biology disorders and age-associated hematopoietic aging.